


Healing Takes Many Forms

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: Unicorn [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Farrier!Dean, Gen, He's not exactly a normal horse, Horse Rehab AU, Horse!Castiel, Past Jessica Moore/Sam Winchester, Sort Of, Vet!Sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 10:05:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14809227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: Sam found a lost horse and took him in.  The horse doesn't quite seem normal to him, but he can't quite put his finger on why until they go for a ride one day.





	Healing Takes Many Forms

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyShadowphyre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyShadowphyre/gifts).



> Prompt from the Best Enabler Ever who found out it was summer vacation and sent me a million ideas: Sam and Dean own a ranch for rescue and rehabilitation of abused horses. Sam buys a black stallion named Castiel from a horse breeder who was fed up with not getting any foals from such a "fine specimen" no matter how many times he tried to breed him. Unicorns usually only reveal themselves to virgins (because they're more likely to be pure of heart), but for Sam... Castiel is willing to make an exception.
> 
> I kind of got a little away from specifics, hope it's okay!

Sam could understand why the owner had gotten so frustrated with Castiel. After all, the big black stallion was a perfect specimen of horsekind, and very unusual – despite no white markings anywhere on his body, Castiel’s eyes were a bright, almost glowing, blue. Sam had been around horses all his life, and he’d never seen another horse with blue eyes that didn’t have white somewhere on its body. If he were a breeder who owned this horse, he’d want to breed it to produce as many foals as he could. That, after three years of stud fees, Castiel had yet to produce a single foal, and even attempts at using artificial insemination had failed without fail, the owner was fed up. He’d turned Castiel loose in the middle of nowhere, close to the Winchester Ranch for Horse Rehabilitation.

He’d somehow found his way to the ranch, where Sam spotted him and brought him in. It wasn’t hard to track his owner through the microchip. Sam let Dean handle that phone call as soon as he realized Castiel had been dumped rather than gotten lost. It was quite satisfying to hear Dean go off on irresponsible owners who treated their horses like disposable toys, and he was in fine form that day. Once Dean slammed the phone down, Sam slipped out of the house to Castiel. “Hey there, boy. Looks like you’re staying with us, now. Probably won’t be as fancy as your last home, but it’s clean and it’s safe and you’ll have food and water and exercise. Come on.” He led Castiel to a stall and patted his nose. “Once we’ve gotten you checked for injuries or illness, we’ll take you out to the field.”

Castiel held surprisingly still while Dean and Sam looked him over, even when Dean trimmed his hooves and redid his shoes. Sam gave him some carrots afterward. “You’re in great health. You must have found your way here quickly, you don’t even look like you’re hungrier than a horse normally would be.” Castiel dipped his head in what Sam could almost believe was an intentional nod. “I’m glad you did. Me and Dean and our staff, we’ll take care of you.”

 

Sam liked to check in on each of the horses every day, even though their staff handled routine care and feeding. Many of their workers came from down the road one way or the other – to the west, there was Jody Mills’ Home for Wayward Daughters, from whom they currently employed Claire, Alex, Kaia, and Patience; to the east was Sonny’s Boy’s Home, from whom they currently employed Jack and Ben. Dean’s friend Charlie, a former employee and wayward daughter, loved to tease them when she came back to visit. “You’re supposed to be rehabbing the horses, not a bunch of troubled teens.”

“Hey, who says we can’t do both?” Dean asked, tossing Charlie a beer. “You and Kevin seem to be doing okay for yourselves.”

Charlie took a long pull of her beer. “You know, I never did get a straight answer about how you ended up at Sonny’s without Sam for the first few months.”

“Yes, you did,” Sam said. “It was the first story Dean told you. He only started making crap up when you refused to believe it.”

“Dean got busted for stealing peanut butter, but you ran, and your dad said to let him rot for a while?” Charlie said. “That’s really what happened?”

“That’s really what happened,” Dean confirmed. “You can ask Sonny. If the cops hadn’t been there when Dad came for me and noticed Sammy’s bruises, I’d probably have gone off with Dad. Likely be dead or in jail now instead of a farrier at a horse rehab center.”

 

The next morning, Sam got up to visit the horses before they went out to the fields. Castiel was his last stop. He’d taken well to his new life, almost immediately adopting Claire as his favorite of the workers, a sentiment Claire returned. “It’s gonna sound silly, I know, but Castiel’s eyes remind me of my dad’s. Makes me feel closer to him than I have since he left.”

“Silly or not, if it helps you, I’m glad you have that,” Sam said. He stroked Castiel’s nose, and his brow wrinkled. “Does his head feel odd to you?”

“What do you mean?” Claire set down the brush she was using and came to feel where Sam showed her. “Nope. Feels like a horse’s head.”

“Huh.” It felt normal to Sam now, too. “Must be having one of those days.”

Claire looked him over critically. “Should I get Dean?”

“No, no, I feel fine, if something else weird happens I’ll go inside and do my meditations, but really, other than this and thinking I heard Jess’s voice when I woke up, I’ve been normal. Jess could’ve been a dream that didn’t quite disappear like it normally does, too.”

“I’m sorry. Hope things clear up. Don’t push yourself too hard, okay?” She picked up her brush. “I’d better get back to work, Jody is gonna kick my ass if I’m late for class again.” She quickly finished brushing Castiel and headed out.

Sam stayed to watch, and when Claire left, he could have sworn he felt Castiel staring at him. Not just staring, but looking at him like he was trying to understand something. Horses weren’t that smart. They could learn a few commands, but following a conversation? No. And yet, he felt compelled to explain. “Jess was my girlfriend in college. I loved her, was gonna marry her after I finished vet school and bring her out here. Except that my last year of undergrad, there was a fire in our apartment. I wasn’t there, but she was, and she couldn’t get out.”

If Castiel were human, Sam would swear that was sympathy flooding his eyes. Castiel was a horse, though. This was turning out to be a very weird morning. Maybe he should go inside and meditate. He couldn’t bring himself to leave, though. “Jess’s death kind of messed me up. I dealt with it the Winchester way – shoved it aside, shoved it down, dealt with it by not dealing with it. It worked, at least well enough for me to finish out my undergrad degree and get through vet school, but when I came back here, one of the first horses we took in was rescued from a barn that had burned, and she couldn’t break out of her stall. I did everything I could, but I couldn’t save her, and it triggered a breakdown. I got help, but there are some days where I still see or hear things that aren’t there. Or feel things that aren’t there.” Sam reached out and rubbed Castiel’s head. It felt silly, talking to a horse like this, but it kind of felt good, too. “Don’t worry about me. It’s only on bad days that I run into trouble. Most of the time, I’m fine. Other people got it way worse.”

The calculating consideration Sam thought he saw in Castiel’s eyes scared him, and he gave the horse one last pat. “Thanks for listening, buddy. You should probably get out to the field anyway.” He turned and walked to the house, where he got out his yoga mat and started stretching. He couldn’t have seen what he thought he saw.

 

Dean didn’t ask questions when he saw Sam doing yoga; just let him do what he needed to do to clear his head. After lunch, he put away his meditation stuff. “Anything you need me for?”

“Nope. Horses are all fine, if you wanna go for a ride, go for it. Think Castiel was ever ridden?”

Sam shrugged. “He was probably destined for breeding as soon as the owner saw the blue eyes, so who knows?” He hesitated, looking at Dean while he tried to decide. “Does he seem odd to you?”

“What, Castiel? Hell yeah, you’re just now noticing?” Dean hopped up to sit on the counter. “The other horses steer clear of him, and he seems perfectly content to be left alone. Jack says he acts like he’s intelligent. More than a horse should be. Not sure about Jack’s instincts, but with what I’ve seen and how he’s taken to Claire and now you asking, I dunno. Maybe there’s something there.”

“Dean, what’s your problem with Jack?”

“He’s only been here four weeks and I never trust them fully until the three-month mark, you know that. Besides, he won’t talk to me or Sonny about his old man.”

Sam’s brow wrinkled. “He doesn’t know anything to tell you guys. His mom ran away from him when she found out she was pregnant and told him someone else was his father. That guy’s dead.”

“He talks to you?”

“Yeah, we talked about it the other day when I was teaching him how to check a horse’s teeth. On Castiel, come to think of it.” Sam grinned. “Maybe, for once, one of the kids likes me better.”

“And you’re asking me why I don’t trust his judgment,” Dean shot back. “Kevin liked you better, too, what are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about Castiel being an odd horse, which it seems you agree with.” Sam headed for the door. “I’m going to see what happens when I try to put a saddle on him.”

 

Castiel behaved perfectly while Sam geared him up for a ride, and followed verbal commands perfectly without Sam needing the reins at all. They stopped by the creek so that Sam could give Castiel a short rest and water break. After taking a drink, Castiel turned to stare at Sam, head cocked to one side. Then he lowered his head and advanced on Sam.

Sam held his ground. Castiel wasn’t moving fast enough that Sam would be trampled, and if this was some sort of dominance challenge… but then his chest erupted in pain as though someone had driven a sword into it. He looked down, and gasped in shock. There was a long, spiraled horn sticking out of his chest, solidly attached to Castiel’s head.

Castiel backed up, pulling the horn out of Sam’s chest. Admittedly, Sam had been to veterinary school, not human medical school, but the anatomy was similar enough that he was pretty sure he should be bleeding hard from having a sharp object shoved into his heart. Instead, there wasn’t even a hole in his shirt, let alone any blood or even any remaining pain. Castiel’s horn began to glow, and Castiel faded away, replaced by a human-looking man. “Hello.”

“Hello?” Sam repeated. “That’s all you have to say is hello?”

Castiel tilted his head. “It’s been some time since I met a human I could speak to in this manner. That… is still the term, is it not?”

“Honestly? I was half expecting be not afraid.”

Castiel’s eyes rolled. “That’s angels. I’m a unicorn.”

“Yeah, uh, why are you talking to me? Thought you were supposed to be looking for…”

“The purity of virginity is only one kind of purity, and not one we care about as much as advertised. We form bonds with those who are pure of heart. Like you. I decided to reveal myself to you when I realized the odd feeling you had this morning was you sensing my horn. If you were that close to discovering it, then you must be worthy of knowing the truth.”

“Look, I… I’m not pure at heart. I sin, just like everyone else. I have so much anger sometimes…”

Castiel reached out and touched two fingers to Sam’s forehead. “Your flaws make you human. You rise above them, though. Your upbringing, the way you lost your beloved, you took those and swore to yourself that you would be the best person you could be, that you would devote yourself to doing good in this world. That’s what makes you worthy. That’s what draws me to you. I believe it was your pain calling out to me that guided me to you, to your sanctuary. That pain should ease, now. I’ve absorbed it from you. You shouldn’t have days where you question your senses anymore. I apologize for the pain when my horn entered you. I've never done that before, and I didn't think to phase it before it touched instead of after.”

Sam touched his chest. He’d never heard that unicorns could do any of that… but then, he hadn’t though much about unicorns since he was six years old. “So what happens now? I mean, you’re not a normal horse, so…”

“No, but I have no objection to being treated as such. You’ll never get a foal out of me unless you find another unicorn, but as I understand it, your facility is not a breeding facility anyway.” Castiel let his hand drop, brushing Sam’s hair out of the way as he did. “I can make you forget, if you think it necessary, but you would grow suspicious again in days. I mean it when I say that I have no objection to being treated as a normal horse. If you wish to speak to me, all you have to do is take me out for a ride. In the meantime, any unusual treatment of me would only make your brother and your staff question your sanity, and you must know how crazy you would sound if you told them I was a unicorn.”

“Yeah, but… it doesn’t feel right, treating you like an animal with very limited brain when you’re so much more than that.”

“Most of the time, my brain is focused elsewhere, and I really am no more intelligent than a particularly smart horse. It’s only when I sense something I need to pay attention to that I focus on the here and now. Like hearing you talking to Claire yesterday, and then me.”

“All right. You’re the expert on unicorns here. If you’re sure you don’t mind being treated like a horse…” Sam checked his watch. “I should probably get back before Dean starts wondering if you kidnapped me.”

“Indeed.” Castiel glowed again, and the big black horse returned. Sam rode him back and rubbed him down, and as he did, he could almost see the intelligence fading behind Castiel’s eyes. By the time everything was cleaned up and put away, Castiel did appear to be a perfectly normal horse. If this was a new kind of crazy, well… Sam would take it.


End file.
